Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: December

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began.  I’m acting as guest host again this month, and I hope you find everything to your liking!

I’ll start off with a list of those people who are taking part – please do visit their blogs and have a look at their entries for this month.  If they haven’t posted their photographs yet then please be patient and check again on the 31st!

• Rachel at The Awesome Lady
• Sally at Diario
• Jeneveve at Timballoo
• Jennifer at Architette Studios – away until 14th Jan, please check back then!
• Tamsin at Penguinous
• Nicole at I Can. You Can. We Can.
• Magie at Teacups & Bunting
• Sara at Starla Dear
• Helen at Autistic Inner Space

Inspiration

I’ve definitely taken inspiration from some of the things I’ve seen in craft magazines this month, though not really in the way they originally intended…

Something I Made

We saw chains of origami stars at a craft fair recently and I ended up making my own.  We received a Christmas card in a very pretty (and huge) envelope, so I recycled the envelope and turned it into stars.  Add some sparkly red embroidery thread and voila, one simple garland.

Motifs: Geometric

An abstract shot of the Times Eureka Chelsea Garden at Kew Gardens.  It’s a beautiful garden and you can read more about it here.

Colour

A friend had these embroidery threads out when I went to visit and I thought they were so vibrant and cheerful.

Festive

I’m not one for Christmas trees really, but my fella wanted one so I found something I could live with.  I think this wooden tree with built in LED lights is perfect: simple but still festive.

In a few days, once I’ve had a chance to view all the entries for this month, I’ll put up my favourites – please do pop back to have a look!  In the meantime Rachel over at The Awesome Lady will be guest-hosting for January, so please pop along to her blog to see what topics she’s chosen

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Weekword: Novel

A list of all this week’s participants is given at the end of this post

I must admit that I’ve rather overstretched myself this week (turns out that blogging regularly is almost a full-time occupation, who knew?!) and thus come to Weekword a little lacking in inspiration.  Which, thankfully, made me think.

“Never judge a book by its cover” – that’s what we’re told, and it’s damn good advice because if I judged books by their covers I’d never have read some of my favourite novels.

Take this one, for instance.  Thornyhold by Mary Stewart.  At first glance it looks like just another run of the mill, insipid romance novel.  Chocolate box cover art, totally uninspiring.  There is romance in this book, but it’s interwoven very skillfully with a tale of magical realism.  It’s actually rather fab, and although I can’t think what sort of cover art would do it justice, it’s certain that the current cover falls short.

One of my other favourites is The Spellkey Trilogy by Ann Downer (I actually have two copies of this, one copy of the original first part, and a copy of the complete trilogy).

I adore The Spellkey, but the cover art is dreadful and does the book(s) no favours whatsoever.  These books have been a source of inspiration for years (so much so that I ended up with a commission from the author!), and it’s a tragedy that the covers don’t reflect the genius within.

So there we go.  Two of my favourite novels, and a very rambling post!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog for this week’s Weekword.  Don’t forget to pop by and see all the other participants too!

• Sally at Sow & Sew
• Sally at Diario
• Emily at Ready for an Adventure?
• Jennifer at Architette Studios
• Mary at No Polar Coordinates
• Katy at Creating Misericordia
• John at The Healing Seed

I’m nominating Sally at Sow & Sew to pick the next word (sorry Sally!), so please visit her blog on Monday to find out what the next word is.

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In case of emergency…

What’s in this gorgeous red tin then?  A selection of clever and beautiful cards by Jennifer Bishop of Architette Studios.

I stumbled across her work last year and fell in love with it, and my first crush was on her city skyline series.

Beautiful, detailed and elegant – what more could you want?

Jennifer also has a sense of humour, and I was also taken with her Sheeptails stuff.

Again, simple but elegant, and they bring a smile to your face.

I think my favourites are her Construction Cards.

There’s a huge range to choose from, and I selected my ten favourite ones to go in the tin.  The red tins are now sold out, but she’s got silver ones available for purchase.  The Emergency Correspondance Kit comes with a selection of cards for all occasions (birthdays, weddings, new babies…) as standard, but you can choose your own selection instead if you wish.

Beautiful work by a very talented artist, I highly recommend you go and take a look!

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